I just got back from Toronto (went to the Hockey Hall of Fame) and while I was there (with my father) we went to Exhibition Place (it was near Fort York, which by the way has a painting by Charlie Pachter in one of the buildings), got my photo taken (was wearing my Satellite News “Watch out for snakes” shirt) in front of Princes’ Gates (aka “Arc de Full Retreat”) and was quoting the short when i was walking to get a taxi from there back to my hotel.
So with that in mind, have you ever been to a place where a MSTed movie or short show was filmed (will include Cinematic Titanic, RiffTrax and the Film Crew)?
Have at it!
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Fouke, Arkansas –
Home of The Legend Of The Boggy Creek Monster and otherwise known for … um, nothing. A meal at Sheryl’s Country Kitchen is a must mainly because the only other place to eat in town is Allen’s Burger Center which is only open for lunch and caters to the local high school crowd. GO PANTHERS! The monster craze has faded in these last many years, but a Boggy Monster t-shirt can still be had at the Fouke Food Center if you are willing to settle for child sizes or XXXXX Bubba Large. On your way out of town you can take in the natural beauty of “The Bottoms” unless you are traveling on I-49. Then you can enjoy the unnatural landscapes of countless unfinished construction projects. No monsters were observed on our visit unless you count the guy in Sheryl’s Kitchen completely ignoring his fussy four year old while he focused on his cell phone.
Rutland, VT –
We visited some of the filming locations of Time Chasers and Radical Jack. I posted some photos here:
http://forum.rifftrax.com/index.php?topic=30817.msg906947#msg906947
I grew up in Rutland, Vt, so everywhere in “Time Chasers” is pretty familiar to me. Nick rides his bike through the downtown. His date with Lisa is at a diner on Main Street, the grocery store was an old mall near my high school (now replace with a Home Depot). The Revolutionary War scenes were shot at the site of the Battle of Hubbardton (and is apparently supposed to be the battle, given that the date given is July 7, 1777), so I’ve been there on field trips. The place where Nick steals and quickly crashes a car is right outside town and the plane crash at the end of the movie is in Lake Bomoseen, where I’ve gone for fishing.
Having visited Seattle numerous times, I’ve been to the site of the World’s Fair as shown in all its white bread glory in “Century 21 Calling.” Dutifully went up to the top of the Space Needle, and while a lot of the buildings still have that 1960s “look how futuristic we are” vibe, the young’uns definitely look more hipster than Hitler Youth.
I’ve been around a lot of Palm Desert, where Eegah was filmed. So maybe I should have watched out for snakes.
Once while I was in NYC I did a Horror of Party Beach, Hardware Hank tour. Passed The Met, Greenwich village, etc.
Didn’t find The Manhattan Chemical Supply co. though.
And no one was eaten by monsters while I went sight seeing.
I’m in Albuquerque, home of the Moon Beast and all the tracks it left. I got to spend lots of time at one of the main locations when I was in college and dating a geology student, since UNM Geology Department’s Northrop Hall figured prominently. There was the UNM Mineral Museum where they all stood around looking at the rocks, and the sheriff’s office was the Caswell Silver Visiting Professor’s Office, and some of the scenes were set in and around the building.
For a long time I thought I’d been to the “wheat penny and Glock” store but recently found out it was a different one; we have so many here, though, that my confusion is understandable.
I’ve also been on the Tram several times, but never saw anyone throw a dummy out. Darn.
Have you seen any drunks with an MA in bowling from Duke?
Dang Timmy, you were a stone’s throw from THE location of “Overdrawn at the Memory Bank”.
http://www.gwlraleasing.com/building.php?building=33-yonge-street
My wife and I lived for many years in southern Alberta (and her family still lives there), so we’re very familiar with the locations in THE FINAL SACRIFICE. (And my wife went to SAIT as well [which is in Calgary].) In fact, one of the times we were moving to the States for graduate school our beloved cat, Misty, threw up in the car near the store where Rowsdower and Troy stop, so we’re familiar with that spot as well. :)
Not since Leisure Bowl closed.
I can’t imagine a better tribute to Rowsdower than your cat puking in a vehicle. Though you might have been less touched.
Northeast Kansas here.
You just can’t imagine.
The Centron shorts are a tour guide to Lawrence, Kansas and Pittsburg, Kansas (the one about the glories of shop class), in the late fifties and early sixties. The shots out of the office of the Crusty Old Professor in the Lip and Tongue Action short are of the KU buildings on Mount Oread, which still stand.
Also, if you’re passing through, the former Centron studios are the current classrooms and studios for the Cinema department at the University of Kansas. Kevin Wilmott (check ‘um out on imdb) is a professor in the program.
Wish MST had gotten around to doing Carnival of Souls–the Kansas locations in that are, again, all Centron country in Douglas County.
Last year I got to go to California on business. Me and my co-worker took a side trip to Griffith Observatory so he could re-enact scenes from Rebel Without a Cause, and I could re-enact scenes from Teenage Crime Wave (even had my picture taken where “Terry” died)–oops Spoiler Alert.
Despite the jokes about Hoboken and the Dallas Book Depository, the RiffTrax short A Visit to Santa was filmed mostly in McKeesport, PA (the other city in Allegheny County besides Pittsburgh) about five miles from where I sit and type this. Most of the buildings along the parade route in downtown McKeesport are gone, including the department store that hosted Santa’s Toyland, but the Olympia Shopping Center, where Santa rode his new-fangled rocket ship, still exists. This is a great write up about the locations in the short written by a local historian.
http://www.tubecityonline.com/almanac/entry_1150.php
Visit?? I LIVE (roughly) where they shot Psychotronic Man
I’m from Chicago, so of course I’m very familiar with all the downtown locations where the grasshoppers roamed in “Beginning of the End”. Why, I think I might have once sent one or two of the postcards used in the “special” effects. I don’t ever recall there being a ladies-wear store directly across the street from the Art Institute, though–you know, where the soldier is sitting amongst the mannequins raving about the fabulous bra sale . . . My sister’s best friend is from Paxton, the little town where Peter Graves inadvertently created the giant ‘hoppers at his research station. They’re not MSTies, but they really enjoyed hearing Paxton referred to in a Hollywood film! I second Mike’s declaration to the ‘bots that “this is so NOT Illinois”. I’ve also been to Amsterdam and recognized a lot of the landmarks visible in some shots in “Secret Agent Super Dragon”.
and the Illinois National Guard is the 33rd Infantry Division (same unit my Great-Granddad was in during WWI). and yes its not Illinois (unless they filmed it near the Quad Cities).
I’m in Jacksonville Florida. The sequence in “Revenge of the Creature” where Gill-man climbs the dock, invades the dance gig, and kidnaps Lori Nelson was famously shot at the old Lobster House restaurant (you see it only as “TER HOU” in the movie). It was situated on the St. Johns River in beautiful downtown Jacksonville, near the foot of the Main Street Bridge and adjacent to what is now known as Friendship Park. Alas, it burned down in 1962 (a couple of years before I was born). That site is now occupied by the River City Brewing Company, where I have been. And, I’ve been to Friendship Park many many times. :)
Rifftrax: Night of the Lepus was shot in the area East of Tucson, where I live. Watch carefully for the intersection of US 82 and 83 at Sonoita. [The General Store where the rabbits kill the woman] Have traveled through the area many times, but was long ago
Pretty sure I’ve been to several of them, but one in particular that stands out is the Zamzow’s store in Meridian, ID, which can be seen in the background during part of Last Clear Chance. I lived in Meridian about 10 years ago, and while the town is much bigger now than what you see in the film, the old feed store was still there by the tracks.
I had the great pleasure of visiting a friend of mine when he was attending Iowa State University almost 20 years ago. When on campus I remembered that the Home Economics Story short was filmed there! I saw the mystic fountain that the girls sat by, the steps that were leading up to the “tragedy struck…a lone gunman” building, and best of all the actual building with Home Economics etched in the stone!
Of course by that time the building was devoted to other courses, but it certainly a treat to walk through those doors.
I then had a five pound potty to celebrate.
I’ve been to “Morman Rocks” formation in Cajon Pass. A great many movies and TV shows have filmed in that area over the years, including a few that have been on MST3K. (I can’t recall which ones, off hand.) However, it may be most famous as the site of Kirk’s battle with the Gorn captain in the original Star Trek series.
I was born in McKeesport. Grew up in North Huntingdon.
I’ve been several times to the Northern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire seen in Quest of the Delta Knights.
Rifftrax: Sisterhood of Death was filmed in and around the area of Paso Robles CA where I went to High School (I was not a Big Shot, though walking through it did make me want to kill myself). The scene near the beginning where the clueless sisterhood meets the cut rate Starsky and Hutch takes place in the parking lot of the Paso Robles Inn, which is a minor historical location and where my wife and I spent our Honeymoon. We live in another town in the same area. So the movie more or less takes place where I live.
Billy’s Helicopter Ride was filmed right here in Dallas, Texas, in 1962. There’s even a shot of Dealey Plaza, one year before the Kennedy assassination. I work in the old schoolbook depository building now, one floor below the current museum, but it’s still creepy to think that a president was killed on the street outside my office. I think R.O.T.O.R.was also shot in Dallas in the 80’s. As an aside, Robocop was filmed here about the same time. I know Attack of the Eye Creatures was filmed here in the 60’s because the police all wear Dallas PD uniforms, and the restaurant/bar where some of the people meet up was near White Rock lake, but that places closed sometime ago. Finally, The Amazing Transparent Man and The Giant Gila Monster were both filmed around here.
Not only have I visited the town where “A Touch of Satan” was filmed, I grew up there – Santa Ynez, California. The store the two main characters visit is a little store in what would be charitably referred to as our “downtown”. It’s a beautiful area, by the way.
I’ve been to the Seattle Science Center where “Century 21 Calling” was filmed.
The only spot that hasn’t really changed much over the years is the “giant bowls of soup” exhibit, except now there’s dinosaur statues there.
The Killer Shrews –
Rumor has it that The Killer Shrews was filmed on and near Lake Lewisville, an impoundment lake northwest of downtown Dallas. At the time the movie was made this would have been a relatively rural location closer to Denton that Dallas, but today the area has been swallowed up by the DFW “metroplex” and suburbs with ridiculous names like The Colony and Highland Village are all around.
Back in the fifties when urban sprawl was just firing up author John Graves was asked by a local ladies historical society to research the “original” name for a stream meandering through one of the new subdivisions. His answer did not please them. John found that the nineteenth century name for the stream was “Dead N-gg-r Draw”. The ladies decided to rename it Daffodil Creek.
So you know where the fish lives! :)
Santa Ynez is the current home of 1948 Wimbledon champion Bob Falkenburg, the man who introduced soft ice cream to Brazil (and vice versa).
The Rifftrax short “Library World” was filmed at the Burbank Public Library, which I’m not far from. I visited and checked the catalog and found THE EXACT BOOK on racecars the kid in the short checks out. Still there after 40 years. I took a picture of the book sitting next to a freeze frame of itself from the short playing on my iPod.
My dad lived in Albuquerque for a while for his job (around 2004) and I went to visit him for a few days. We were driving around and I asked what the name of the mountains in the distance was and he said it was Sandia Crest. Track of the Moon Beast is one of my faves and I just busted out laughing. It took a few minutes for me to pull it together and he got cracked up at me because I was just laughing uncontrollably. It was great!!!!
I’ve been through Gleason, WI more times than I care to count. The Giant Spider Invasion’s depiction of Wisconsinites is expertly observed.
Kirk’s battle with the Gorn, and some other Star Trek episodes, were filmed at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area County Park, just off the 14 on the way to Palmdale.
http://parks.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dpr/Parks/Vasquez_Rocks_Natural_Area/
Sampo,
you never said where you have been?
I lived in Merrill, Wisconsin for six years. I have been to the theater in the background of the big crowd scene of Giant Spider Invasion, the Cosmo Theatre, many times. It is still the most affordable place to get movie theater popcorn in Western Civilization. My wife was 9 or 10 when the movie was filmed (she’s a native to the area and I met her there when I served as a pastor in Merrill). She said that she heard the call for extras for the crowd scene and wanted to go to town to take part in it. Her family wouldn’t let her and she had to do chores that night. We were both bowled over when we saw that movie on MST3K. The director, Bill Rebane, still lives in Gleason. Lately, he’s shown the movie at the Cosmo as part of his effort to restore the first Estonian Lutheran Church in America which happens to be in Gleason. Here’s a link to his website. http://www.firstestonianchurch.com/author/bill/
I went to high school in El Paso, Texas and have driven Rim Road several times, it’s a senic overlook of the city. Which is seen in the opening of Manos. The stone wall and view of the valley are distinct in the movie. I would assume I’ve been near other filming locations for Manos as I explored quite a bit back then but nothing else in that movie is particularly specific looking.
I didn’t know Rifftrax did this short! And it’s only a dollar. Sweet.
I was about to side-eye that library and ask if they ever weeded, but in the library where I work we definitely still have some books in the collection that were here when we opened in 1967 (although maybe not the ones on race cars), so I guess can’t really throw that particular roll of book tape.
I would so not be proud of living near all those.
I kid of course, nice one.